Slow performance and lag after iOS 26 update on iPhone

After updating my device to iOS 26, I have been experiencing significant lag across apps and system settings. The performance has dropped noticeably, making the device feel slow and unresponsive. This is affecting the overall user experience, and I would appreciate guidance on whether this is a known issue or if there are recommended steps to resolve it


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: After updating to iOS 26, my phone has started lagging significantly across all apps and settings. The overall performance feels noticeably slower—almost like using an Android device


iPhone 11 Pro Max, iOS 26

Posted on Sep 17, 2025 6:11 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 24, 2025 3:52 AM

Had the same issues as OP, waited 3-5 days for the indexing to finish and still have some lags, but what worked was, I went on Setting - Accessibility - Display & Text Size - Reduce Transparency,

Turning it off, quiting setting, and then turning it on again, seems to make the phone run better. Everything is snappy again. Maybe it’ll work for you too.


I’m on iphone 13 128gb with 24gb of storage left.



303 replies

Jan 28, 2026 6:53 AM in response to William Donelson

Hi, the user interface issues can be caused by the user increasing sizes in different app settings including Safari, Accessibility and Settings. Some Safari extensions can modify website behavior and display on a global basis or for just a specific website. Third party apps might not have been optimized by their developers yet and can manifest as UI issues. I’m not saying it’s not Apple’s issue, but without confirming settings and performing necessary resets, no, the issues cannot resolve themselves.

Sep 22, 2025 8:04 PM in response to Mac Jim ID

updated last Friday, the battery life is improving slightly, but the lag is unbearable, when you open an app or swipe up to go to home screen, it takes almost a second for the action to perform. Also the phone is overheating from normal use. It seems by the comments that its a common issue for all models bellow 15 ... I turned down transparency and turned off background refresh and it helped a little with the battery life, but THE LAG is the big problems here. I have never seen anything like that on a iPhone and i use it since model 6.

Sep 17, 2025 6:15 AM in response to haadee

It's not always the iOS update's fault!  Many things can cause phone problems.  If you tell people you think it's an iOS update, it might make it harder to fix or find a solution for the real issue.



Remember, the right question often leads to the solution!



Was/Is your device Jailbroken? If that's the situation, please be informed that attributing the issues to iOS updates may not be accurate.



iOS updates aim to enhance user experience, boost security, and fix bugs rather than disrupt core features. The majority of the issues after updates might stem from underlying, unmentioned factors. Updates won't typically alter personal data but may refine settings or features. Backup before major updates for safety. Review Apple's update details and backup advice for a smooth process.


Kindly consider checking your settings and addressing any device issues before attributing the issue to external factors. This could be a pure coincidence that the iOS update affected the iPhone functions.


Before initiating a standard iOS update, it's advisable to create a backup. Have you completed this step? If yes, proceed with the restoration from the backup.



See what each update does: OS — iOS 26, About iOS 18 Updates, About iOS 17 Updates, About iOS 16 Updates, About iOS 15 Updates, About iOS 14 Updates, About iOS 13 Updates, About iOS 12 Updates, and so on...



Sep 24, 2025 1:44 PM in response to haadee

Same thing. i did an update for my 12pro and it was slow for a day and smooth for second day onwards. and then after couple of days, it is lagging the whole thing. I used Lirum info app to see what is the usage and all. Not even 35-45% of CPU usage and 30% memory usage. Not sure how true it is. Appears to be true as it shows all 6 core usage info. (4 cores at nearly 40-45%% and 2 performance core almost at 0-10% and i dont understand what is slowing things down?

Oct 15, 2025 4:37 AM in response to haadee

Further follow up on this issue from my own experience. I ended up returning my iPhone 15 Pro to Apple as I had it less than a month and the MagSafe charging functionality stopped working too as well as all of the issues with lag and unresponsiveness. I have now bought an iPhone 17 and I am not experiencing any issues although I have not yet activated Apple Intelligence.

Oct 18, 2025 10:45 AM in response to haadee

Just an update to the iOS 26 update. So it’s been a month now since installing iOS 26 and compared to iOS 18 and all previous iOS versions this one is the worst. I can’t see anything it did to make my iPhone better. The lagging is still there. The battery still drains quickly and overheats. I’ve read through this whole forum several times and waited weeks for all the indexing to complete, I turned off Apple Intelligence, I turned off the reduce transparency display, I added the iOS 26.0.1 patch, I never dropped my phone, didn’t jailbreak it, bought it brand new from the actual apple store paid in full in person, always used a protective case, updated all the apps that I could and yet the problems and glitches and lag persists. Even going to the App Store or using Apple Maps or the weather app or the clock app all original apps nothing 3rd party outsourced doesnt work properly. Nothing works like it did with iOS 18. That worked perfectly. I have full bars reception data 5G there works. And now my phone is slow, glitchy and it’s not an upgrade. iOS 26 was a major downgrade. Probably should have waited to install after 26.2 or 26.3 was released. It shouldn’t take 4 weeks after installation to have it running smoothly. But I’m not a software engineer or developer so all I can compare it to is the 14 years of continuous use of other iPhones models and iOS versions. It’s hard to say it was working perfectly before the update and is now not working good after the update. And reading through all the comments and troubleshooting is like okay I did this and I did that and I am still experiencing lag and glitches so now what. Those issues weren’t there before. I guess it’s my fault for installing iOS 26. Maybe they should have just gone incremental improvements like from 18 to 19 to 20 instead of trying to leap ahead to 26.

Oct 25, 2025 6:57 PM in response to haadee

i installed ios 26 on my iphone 16. my phone has had chronic problems lagging since… the same thing happened to my daughters phone. i have run constant tests and diagnostics to improve performance and the issue persists without a valid reason for the performance. my phone was fine before the update the rest of my family who did not update do not have problems. i have found no reasonable solutions to this problem only mediocre responses and am very unhappy with your product.

Slow performance and lag after iOS 26 update on iPhone

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